By Linda L Briggs, Campus Technology A small junior college in West Virginia has launched a pilot program that combines the open source learning management system Moodle with the immersive virtual world Second Life. The combination has allowed distance learners to create an avatar in Second Life and attend classes through the virtual world. It’s proved highly popular, and, though in the early stages yet, the indication is that it’s helping to build a connection between Huntington Junior College and its non-traditional student base

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Immersive Distance Online Learning To Boost Retention

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal Netbooks are leading K-12 mobile device sales, growing at 200 percent per year. Learning management systems–rather than controlling the learning environment for children–are actually augmenting interactions between the teacher and student.

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Education Trends: More Mobile, More Distance Online Learning, More LMS Usage

by ASU News ASU will offer a new tuition rate for the fully online Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. “We recognize that many nurses today would like to advance in their careers, but often find themselves limited by ongoing professional and family responsibilities,” said Diann Muzyka, associate director of ASU’s RN-BSN programs.

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Online nursing program allows learning flexibility, convenience

by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed When Jon Stewart asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty last week for some examples of how he intended to administer “limited and effective” government, the Republican governor asked “Do you really think in 20 years somebody’s going to put on their backpack, drive a half hour to the University of Minnesota from the suburbs, haul their keister across campus, and sit and listen to some boring person drone on about econ 101 or Spanish 101?” Pawlenty asked Stewart, “Can’t I just pull that down on my iPhone or iPad whenever the heck I feel like it, from wherever I feel like it?” he said. “And instead of paying thousands of dollars, can I pay $199 for iCollege instead of 99 cents for iTunes?” http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/17/pawlenty Share on Facebook

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A Political Online Push – Governor’s Comments Stir Online Learning Discussions

By John Byrne, Chicago Tribune Chicago public high school students will be able to take online courses this summer for classes they failed, in a move Mayor Richard Daley hopes will save money. Thirty high schools around the city will keep their doors open so students can use computer labs to retake the classes they need to advance to the next grade, Daley said Thursday at a news conference at Chicago Military Academy in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

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Summer school expands online learning for Chicago Public Schools

by Jennifer Epstein, Inside Higher Ed As many brick-and-mortar colleges shed untenured teaching staff, and online learning programs – especially those run by for-profit institutions – continue to hire, teaching in a virtual setting is becoming the new reality for many more academics. Thursday’s presentation was one of several on online education at this year’s AAUP meeting

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Online Teaching – Another Kind of Academic Career Path

By EMILY McFARLAN, Sun-Times Media Fourth-grader Ryan Dooley answers a question by learning coach and teacher Lisa Koscielski during a virtual learning lesson June 2 at Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove. Dooley and another student are the first to enroll in the school’s virtual learning program, where the actual teacher is 200 miles away in Green Bay, Wis.

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Online learning: Schools assess the possibilities

Essay writing ALWAYS feels like a chore. I bet you’re like me, and I bet you always leave your essay writing until the last minute, despite the fact you’ve spent the last month doing nothing but watching bad TV and chatting to friends on Facebook?  Even important essays can’t get in the way of those trashy TV shows! This guide aims to strip away the last minute angst by giving you 5 ultimate tips for writing essays (and getting a good grade in the process!) So, if you’re struggling to get started, feeling baffled by the books or just in need of inspiration these tips will really help you! Tip #1 – Choose an unusual topic Rather than picking the most obvious topic, choose something a little ‘out there.’ Think of a topic that your peers aren’t researching and that your lecturer will find both refreshing and engaging.

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How to write an amazing essay: 5 tips

by Michael Horn, the Yorktown Patriot Ever since the creation of the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) in 1997, Florida has been among the nation’s leaders in the fast-growing online learning movement. From humble origins serving 77 students with a start-up $200,000 Florida Department of Education “Break the Mold” grant, FLVS grew to serve more than 70,000 students in the 2008-2009 school year.

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Michael Horn, on Online Learning: Disrupting the Status Quo

By Erin Monda, TMCnet Want to go back to college but are too short on time to attend class regularly? Schools like the University of West Alabama are toying with a new online learning technology that allows students to circumvent this issue. The product that is allowing for this new development was created by a U.S.

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Take College Tests at Home

Did you know there are still World’s Fairs? I had no idea until I ran into a piece of information detailing the opening of the 2010 Word’s Fair in Shanghai, China. In fact, this year’s exhibit is billed to be the biggest ever.

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Opening of World’s Fair: China 2010

The prospects for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year are increasingly dim. With climate change, financial regulatory reform, a Supreme Court nominee, November elections and fallout from the BP oil spill on lawmakers’ minds, little legislative bandwidth remains to be used elsewhere

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Should Congress Delay Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Ed Act?

Time to push Congress for real reform Michael Lomax is right – it is time to push Congress for real reform. The critical question is what Congress should do – what is ‘real reform’?

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Monty Neill responded to Should Congress Delay Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Ed Act? on June 17, 2010 11:38 AM

Big 8 on ESEA: Nothing New Big 8 on ESEA: Nothing New Big 8 on ESEA: Nothing New Ed Week’s Alyson Klein caught up with the ‘big 8′ (key lawmakers with jurisdiction over education) after their meeting yesterday regarding reauthorization of ESEA. Basically, they had nothing new to say. The sentiments about progress on the bill are more or less identical to what was said back in January when they first met to get this process started.

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Eliza Krigman responded to Should Congress Delay Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Ed Act? on June 17, 2010 09:55 AM

Do It Right, Do It Now Delaying action on ESEA is in no one’s interest, especially the children and educators who are laboring under an almost ten-year-old law. Most of the gains from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have already been realized; it is time to build on what has proven positive and do what happens with every major piece of legislation—review strengths and weaknesses and draft legislation for current needs and conditions. NCLB was groundbreaking in 2001; almost a decade later, it is a compact disc in an iPod world

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Gov. Bob Wise responded to Should Congress Delay Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Ed Act? on June 14, 2010 07:37 AM

Don’t Delay — This Will Take Time No—Congress shouldn’t cease and desist further work on ESEA just because prospects for completing the bill this year are increasingly slim. Reauthorizations do not happen overnight

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Gary Huggins responded to Should Congress Delay Reauthorization Of The Elementary And Secondary Ed Act? on June 14, 2010 07:35 AM

After two and a half years of emotional and controversial negotiations, the Washington, D.C., teachers union ratified a new contract last week that dilutes the strength of seniority protections and introduces a voluntary pay-for-performance program. Union members approved the new agreement overwhelmingly in a 1,412-425 vote. The new contract includes a pay raise of 21.6 percent over five years (retroactive to the expiration of the old contract) that will raise average annual salary from $67,000 to $81,000

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What Effect Will D.C. Teachers’ New Contract Have?

New ways to thrive in education desert The new DCPS contract is interesting mostly because of the non-traditional way officials seemed to get the deal done.

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Chad Wick responded to What Effect Will D.C. Teachers’ New Contract Have? on June 11, 2010 12:06 PM

Not a National Model–For Many Reasons It’s not just funding that makes Washington, D.C.’s collective bargaining agreement for teachers an unlikely model for school districts that have little in common with D.C. While all communities share the goal of helping students in a way that meets their individual needs, and while most recognize that schools need better tools and conditions to accomplish this, communities use different approaches to meet this goal. And, most important, those differences must be accounted for in school policies and local laws.

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Randi Weingarten responded to What Effect Will D.C. Teachers’ New Contract Have? on June 11, 2010 09:29 AM

The Devil Went Down to Georgetown Johnny rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard. The new DC contract is both fantastic and Faustian.

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Steve Peha responded to What Effect Will D.C. Teachers’ New Contract Have? on June 10, 2010 05:11 PM